Five Annual Events That Are Far More Frequent
by John Walker on May.11, 2010, under The Rest
Lots of things are annual. July, for instance. But July, Christmas and my birthday all have the good grace to wait an entire perceived year before they decide it’s time for another go. Here are five things that rudely push into my consciousness far more often than calendars would like to admit:
1) The London Marathon
The spectacle of the wobbly unfit attempting to run the extremely arbitrary distance of 26andabit miles in rented costumes certainly appears to appear more than once a year. I estimate there must be 1.5 London Marathons every year, one of them always on a hotter day than the other.
2) The Last Night Of The Proms
It seems we’re being told how very much we all want to wave cheap plastic flags and bob up and down at least two times a year. I recognise that the Proms lasts an entire season, but its denouement certainly doesn’t see fit to only appear once it’s over. Another one is sneaking in there somewhere.
3) The Turner Art Prize
Unquestionably, this prize comes up twice a year. The BBC News website starts snorting in horror at the obscure entries, while we’re all encouraged to alternately sneer and seethe that these people make money from that?! Whatever happened to good old-fashioned painting? You’ll note that on the other occasion it comes around again too quickly, there’s a winner who surprises everyone by doing some good old-fashioned painting.
4) Wimbledon
It’s almost time for the All England Tennis Club to host the Wimbledon Championship grandslam event. It’s in a month and ten days. Exactly. The last one only finished about four months ago. To further illustrate quite how much of a time-defying multi-dimensional state the tournament exists within, do you know how many years it’s been since Cliff Richard so famously “entertained” the crowds by singing when it rained? Five years? Eight years? No. It was fourteen years ago.
5) Earth Day
No one has any idea what Earth Day is. No one knows what it’s for, who organises it, and whether the Earth is helped by it in any way. The only reason any of us have ever heard of Earth Day is because about three or four times a year, Google annually changes its logo to celebrate the occasion.
May 11th, 2010 on 17:53
We haven’t had Earth day 2010 yet? It feels like it was only a few weeks ago…
I see what you mean, John.
May 11th, 2010 on 18:00
Well, we have, it was in April:
http://www.google.com/logos/earthday10-hp.gif
But there will be another one before next April, mark my words!
May 11th, 2010 on 18:42
Earth Day is apparently a day you should turn off all your electrical appliences..or something like that. But even people who support Earth Day I still see on the internet so its pretty pointless.
May 11th, 2010 on 19:01
No way that the Cliff Richard Wimbledon thing was 14 years ago.
That’s more than half my life ago.
May 11th, 2010 on 19:05
Never mind things that come round more than once a year. I swear the snooker world cup never actually ends.
May 11th, 2010 on 21:57
Are “Proms” in Britain something different from America? In America a prom is a formal dance event for high-schoolers. I don’t particularly recall waving a plastic flag at mine.
May 11th, 2010 on 22:03
Arthur:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proms
A cultural artefact of the BBC, which is an organisation about to be dismantled by the new Prime Minister.
May 11th, 2010 on 23:04
In my perception, Earth Day has never happened, so perhaps you’re experiencing it on my behalf as well as your own!
May 11th, 2010 on 23:21
James – I wish I’d thought of the snooker thing! That’s absolutely true.
May 12th, 2010 on 16:07
Also, mothers’ day.